On May 29, a Manhattan postal worker charged in a 2023 mail‑truck sex assault case accepted a plea deal that spares him jail time but imposes five years of probation and bars him from ever working for the U.S. Postal Service again. The agreement was entered in Manhattan Criminal Court at 100 Centre Street, in full view of courtroom observers, and has pulled fresh attention back to an indictment that accused three coworkers of dragging an incapacitated colleague into the back of a parked mail truck and one of them of attempting to sexually assault her.
According to Inner City Press, the judge signed off on the plea on May 29, imposing five years of supervised probation and a condition that the defendant not return to USPS employment. Inner City Press reported that two women came to court with the defendant and sat quietly in the gallery, and that his attorney told the judge a letter from his client would be enough to confirm he had left the Postal Service. The outlet also noted that the woman at the center of the case did not appear for the hearing.
The case traces back to a March 2025 indictment announced by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office that charged three postal workers — Daniel Jean, Kirt Acala and Edward Chou — with kidnapping and related offenses following what prosecutors described as an after‑work birthday celebration at a post office. Prosecutors allege the men dragged an incapacitated colleague into a mail truck and that one of them then tried to rape her, according to reporting by CBS New York. The D.A.’s filing added separate sexual‑assault counts against Jean, while Acala and Chou are charged with kidnapping and sexually motivated felony offenses.
NYPD officers responding to a 911 call told investigators they arrived to find two men sitting in the cab of the mail truck and heard banging and cries for help coming from inside, according to police accounts and court filings. One man allegedly stepped out with his pants unzipped, and officers then found the woman in the rear of the truck with her pants undone. The incident was reported at Cooper Station in the East Village, the USPS branch at 93 Fourth Avenue. Local coverage of the indictment and police response appears on FOX 5 NY, and background on the Cooper Station facility itself is available on Wikipedia.
What the plea means legally
The plea deal closes out criminal exposure for the defendant who took it, while the two other men named in the indictment remain charged and have pleaded not guilty, according to court reporting. Instead of prison, the combination of probation and an employment ban means the defendant will live under court supervision for five years and will not be allowed to hold a job with USPS in the future. The original announcement from the Manhattan D.A.’s office and subsequent press write‑ups detailed the charges and the prosecutors’ role in bringing the case, drawing from the D.A.’s release that was reprinted in local outlets.
What comes next
Federal and city authorities are still involved. Earlier coverage noted that the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General has an ongoing investigation related to the incident, and that the Manhattan D.A.’s Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Bureau handled the indictment. The D.A.’s office previously shared contact information for victim services and urged anyone with additional information to reach out, a resource highlighted in earlier reporting on the charges. For the remaining defendants, future court dates and filings will move on the regular docket, subject to any further motions or plea negotiations.
We asked the Manhattan D.A.’s office and the U.S. Postal Service for comment and have not yet received responses. Inner City Press was the first local outlet to report on the May 29 plea from inside the courtroom. This story will be updated if prosecutors or USPS issue statements or if new court documents become public.
